What If the Do-Nothing Congress Does Something?

Don't count Congress out. Suppose it actually made progress on the budget, immigration, defense spending, and the mortgage market.

There was little reason for you to notice because they never do anything, but the Do-Nothing Congress has been away from Washington, D.C., for the Thanksgiving/Hanukkah holidays. The House returns on Dec. 2. The Senate will reconvene next week, on Dec. 9. The conventional wisdom holds that in the current session, which ends sometime on Dec. 13, the Do-Nothing Congress will live up to its reputation and do absolutely nothing.

Investors who follow the conventional wisdom, of course, seldom make annual lists of the world's...